Idempotent splittings, colimit completion, and weak aspects of the theory of monads (Q659876)

A semicategory is defined as being a direct graph with an associative composition (with no identities assumed), and a semifunctor as an homomorphism of semicategories. If \(\mathbf{scat}\) denotes the category of semicategories and semifunctors then the forgetful functor \(U\) from the category of categories and functors \(\mathbf{cat}\) to \(\mathbf{scat}\) has both a left adjoint \(F:\mathbf{scat} \rightarrow \mathbf{cat}\) and a right adjoint \(R: \mathbf{scat} \rightarrow \mathbf{cat}\). The adjunction \(U\dashv R\) produces a monad \((Q:=RU, q: 1\rightarrow Q)\) on \(\mathbf{cat}\), and for any category \(B\) the component \(q: B\rightarrow QB\) of the unit exhibits \(QB\) as the Cauchy completion of \(B\). Furthermore, \(Q\) extends to a \(2\)-monad on \(\mathbf{Cat}\), the 2-category of categories, functors and natural transformations, and since \(Q: \mathbf{Cat} \rightarrow \mathbf{Cat}\) preserves finite products it induces a \(2\)-functor \(Q_*: 2\text{-}\mathbf{Cat} \rightarrow 2\text{-} \mathbf{Cat} \). With the help of the Cauchy completion explained above the authors reveal how many of the ``weak'' notions/constructions in the literature can be obtained/treated by passing from a 2-category \(\mathcal{K}\) to \(Q_*\mathcal{K}\). For instance, a weak monad (or demimonoid) in a 2-category \(\mathcal{K}\) is nothing than a usual monad in the local Cauchy completion \(Q_*\mathcal{K}\) of \(\mathcal{K}\). Similarly, for any \(2\)-categories \(\mathcal{C}\) and \(\mathcal{K}\) the ``weak'' analog of the bicategory of lax functors \(\mathcal{C}\rightarrow \mathcal{K}\) , lax natural transformations between them and their modifications can be obtained by replacing \(\mathcal{K}\) by its local completion \(Q_*\mathcal{K}\). And so on, the same treatment is applied to structures like limits, Eilenberg-Moore objects and wreath products, respectively. The paper ends with an appendix where it is shown that for \(\Phi\) a class of \(\mathbf{Cat} _\mathbf{cc}\)-weights and \(\mathcal{A}\) a small \(\mathbf{Cat} _\mathbf{cc} \)-category the free completion of \(\mathcal{A}\) under \(\Phi\)-bicolimits is \(\Phi(\mathcal{A})\), the closure in \(\text{Hom}(\mathcal{A}^{\text{op}}, \mathbf{Cat} _\mathbf{cc})\) of the representables under \(\Phi\)-bicolimits. Here \(\mathbf{Cat}_\mathbf{cc}\) is the full 2-subcategory of \(\mathbf{Cat}\) consisting of the Cauchy complete categories.